Figment is one of those games that took me forever to play. It was not that it was terribly hard or that the enemies were exceptionally fierce. Instead, it is a twisting and turning journey with so many areas and tasks that I found myself losing track of where I’d been and what I’d done. It took me almost 20 hours to slog through the quest and it felt like twice that. At the end, I can only describe it as a Herculean task with delightful moments along the way and an uplifting message at the end.

Described by Bedtime Digital Games as a “musical adventure,” the story follows Dusty and Piper (the bird) on an animated journey into a troubled mind. The artwork is colorful and surreal, in a style that reminds me of Dr. Seuss. It is whimsical with pathways in all directions as you move through the various areas of the mind. Bedtime Digital has done a remarkable job of mapping the brain with visual metaphors. There are buzzing electrical wires for synapses, musical puzzles for creativity, pattern and planning puzzles for logic, clockwork for time management, memory segments, cobwebs that disrupt, and a train of thought. Add in an original soundtrack with great tunes and “mindful” lyrics and the experience is downright amazing.

Your journey begins when you enter a distressed mind to find that it has been impacted by trauma and invaded by fears and nightmares. Your quest is to defeat the negative influences and return the mind to its normal state of courage and optimism. As it turns out, this is a formidable task which involves traversing multiple game areas, solving all kinds of puzzles, surviving ongoing threats, and collecting countless colored batteries, elevator disks, and handles.

A Stroke of Genius

In terms of creativity, Figment is brilliant. The artwork and music come together in a way that reinforces the mood of each scene (which range from idyllic wandering to frenzied evasion). Puzzles are both diverse and interesting. Put on your thinking cap, as many solutions require the strategy and planning of a chess master. Bridges must be activated and pathways opened in a specific order to accomplish your goal. And, if you forget to pick up a battery and need it later, good luck backtracking to find it again. Threats come in the form of physical challenges (avoiding swinging or rotating objects), creatures (fart monsters, spiders, multi-tentacled beasts, etc.), and deadly environments (toxic clouds, waves of despair, blasts of sounds, etc.). When you die, you go up in a puff of smoke and restart the current task. Smoke became a regular part of my game experience as I died countless times. Luckily, the game is saved constantly so very little replay is required after you come back from the dead. If you are lucky, there will be a tree nearby with green healing bubbles to get you restarted with full power (as evidenced by a test tube that serves as your health meter).

For those who are counting, there are memories to collect. Upon discovery, these are delivered back to a central game area. I am quite sure that I missed some memories along the way. However, I never ended up back in the central area to check my progress.

There are several significant “boss” battles which are won by swordplay, persistence, evasion, and creative thinking. By the end of Figment, I was more than adept with my controller (joy stick for movement and buttons to swing your sword, roll while running, take an action, and open your inventory). A couple of these major battles were lengthy and complex. In the final confrontation, getting killed meant restarting the entire battle sequence from the beginning. Grrr…

The Sum of all Fears

As mentioned, Figmentis a long and complicated journey which is difficult to play in “bursts.” As a gamer with a day job, this was my only option. Perhaps my own mind needs assistance from Dusty and Piper, because I simply could not keep track of my travel and accomplishments in previous sessions. Although the game provides major objectives through character dialog, I still ended up feeling a bit disoriented each time I returned to the game.

The voiceovers for Dusty and Piper are much like one finds in Saturday morning cartoons with adults emulating child-like conversation. I admit that, over time, I found this tiresome. Subtitles are provided for those who would rather read than listen but turning the sound down is not an option. The music is too good to miss.

All-in-all, Figment is an animated action adventure that strikes a solid balance between puzzles and combat/evasion. For gamers who would prefer to think rather than run and fight, it may wear thin as one progresses through chapter after chapter after chapter. For those who enjoy this style of game and are skilled in swordplay, Figment provides quite a bit of bang for your buck.